Making iron and tubes



Feb. 12 ,1924.

v 1,483,450 E. F. KENNEY MAKING IRON AND TUBES Filed Feb. 21. 1923INVENTQR QATTIORNEY' Patented Feb. 12, 192%.

EDWARD F. KENNEY, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

MAKING IRON AND TUBES.

Application filed February 21, 1923. Serial No. 620,458;

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD F. KnNnnY,

a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city ofPhiladelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State, of Pennsylvania, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Making Iron and Tubes;and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention,

such as-will enable others skilled in the art iron which is rolled orhammered from a ball or loup, into plates or bars and then successivelycutting and piling said plates or bars; arranging the plates, heatingand rolling the same in different directions while welding the variouslayers, so as to produce a product which is stronger in all directionsthan heretofore.

My invention is particularly adapted for use in makin pipes or boilertubes as practically all of the tests prescribed for charcoal boilertubes test the metal in circumferential directions, and such tests arevery severe on materiallike the usual knobbled charcoal iron and wroughtiron otherwise produced,

for the reason that in prior 'ractice the slag or cinder which isorigina y contained in the mass is all rolled into threads or fibersparallel to the rolling direction making the rolled material weak in alateral direction or circumferentially of the tube formed therefrom.

In order to obviate this I take a ball or loup of wrought iron which maybe formed in a charcoal knobbling fire, by busheling scrap, or puddlingor in other Ways, which ball is composed o a large number of ranules ofwrought iron in a heated and p astic condition, secured together bycontact coherence of their surfaces and between and around thesegranules are layers of slag, or cinder and oxides.

I take this ball or loup, and forge it into a bloom which is ofapproximately rectangular cross secti n and then roll it longitudinallyto pro uce a'muck bar and then cut the muck bar into-convenient lengthsand form a pile therefrom; I then heat and roll this pile in a directiontransverse to or substantially at right angles to the first rolling ofthe bloom, thereby welding the various layers together and forming aplate or wide bar. I then shear this plate crosswise into pieces ofwidths necessary to make a tube sheet or skelp of any width desired andpile these again, heat and roll them longitudi nallyfwhile welding thevarious layers, this rolling being in a direction substantially at rightangles to the second direction of rolling, and consequentlysubstantially parallel to -the first rolling direction of the bloom intomuck bar.

Tests. in different directions have been made on tubes manufactured fromskelp produced in the manner indicated by my invention, which show thatthese meet all tests much better than tubes made by the prior practice.

One of the advantages of 111 method is that only one width of muck arneed be produced, thus requiring only one set of rolls and. therebyeliminating roll changes. Another advantage is that the material for thefinal iling to produce all widthsof skel can e cut from one plate orwide bar by s caring the same crosswise to any widths necessary, whichpermits such plate or wide bar to be kept in stock and the skelp millmaintained in continuous operation without running the muck bar mill atthe same time.

Another advantage is that the skelp so made is stronge in alldirections, thus obviating rejections and facilitating its use.

My invention is applicable to producing Wrought iron in various forms orshapes, including skelp for the production of boiler tubes and thedrawings herewith are merely dia rammatic thereof.

aving thus given a general description of my invention, I will now, inorder to make the matter more clear, refer to the annexed sheet ofdrawings, which form part of this specification, and in which likecharacters refer to like parts Figure 1 is a perspective view showing aball or loup of wrought iron produced in a charcoal knobbling fire orotherwise; Figure 2 is a perspective view of a bloom which is preferablyhammered from the ball; Figure 3 is a portion of a muck bar rolled fromthe bloom of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a perspective view of the first pileformed from the muck bar after it has been cut to lengths and piled;Figure 5 is a per plate or wide bar of Figure 5; Figure 7 is.

perspective view of tube skelp rolled from the pile of Figure 6 in alongitudinal direction; Figure 8 are cross sections of tube skelp whichmay either have scarfed or square edges as illustrated; Figure 9 is aperspective view of a portion of skelp, bent prior to forming a weldedtube therefrom and Figure 10 is a perspective view of a art of afinished boiler tube which has een welded in the usual welding rolls orotherwise.

Referring now to the characters of reference on the drawings:1 is a ballof wrought iron which may be made in a charcoal knobbling fire, bybusheling scrap, puddling or otherwise; 2 is a bloom which has beenforged from the ball 1; 3 is a muck bar which has been rolled from thebloom 2, by passing it when heated through rolls, the direction ofrolling being indicated by the line AB, after which it is cut intopieces 4:, as shown by the dotted lines indicating the'ends 5, and piledto form the pile 6, this pile is then heated and welded by being passedthrough reducing rolls in the lateral direction C--D which forms theplate or wide bar '7; this plate is then cut transversely as indicatedby the dotted lines 9 into the pieces 8 and these pieces may be anywidth desired to produce skelp of proper size from which to form a tubeof any desired diameter. These pieces 8, are then laid together to formthe pile 10 which ile is again heated and welded by being r0 led in thedirection F-.G to form the skelp 11 and this skelp 11 may be cutcasindicated at 13 in lengths 12 suitable for forming pipes or tubestherefrom. The skelp 11 may be rolled or otherwise provided, withbeveled or scarfed edges 14, or it may have square edges as indicated at17 Preparatory to welding the tube, the length 12 of the skelp is heatedand bent into the form 15 after which it is heated to weldingtemperature and passed through welding rolls and its edges are weldedtogether forming the tube 16.

A loup or ball of knobbled' charcoal or wrought iron consists of aplurality of cohering' granules of iron and between or around them arelayers of slag or cinders, and oxides, and in accordance with previouspractice, the bloom is hammered therefrom and elongated in one directionproducing elementary fibers in the metal and also elementary fibersof-slag or cinder, or oxides between the fibers of metal which arefurther and greatly elongated by successive longitudinal rollingsproducing lateral discontinuities or breaks in the metal, as the fibersthereof are separated by fibers of the occlusions, so that skelp so madewhile strong longitudinally is weak laterally, thus resembling a rope ofwires and when skelp. is formed into a tube it will not stand thecircumferential tests applied to it nor the actual tests of the varioususes to which it will be subjected.

I obviate this by my invention, as above described by iling heating androlling in various directlons, thereby welding the various layerstogether, so that the slag; etc., no longer forms longitudinal breaks orfibers between the fibers of the metal but is more uniformly distributedin very small particles or thin laminae, thus producing iron which isstronger in all directions.

Although I have, for the purpose of simplicity of illustration anddescription, described my'invention in connection with making boilertubes I wish it to be understood that it also relates to making wroughtiron bars, plates and other shapes by successive rollings in differentdirections, the bars being out between the rollings and placed togetherto form piles which are heated preparatory to rolling, the last rollingbeing preferably in a direction longitudinal of the last pile.

Although I have shown and described my invention in considerable detail,I do not wish to be limited to the exact and specific details thereof,as shown and described, but may use such modifications in, substitutionsfor, or equivalents thereof as are embraced with the scope of myinvention, or as pointed out in the claims.

'Having thus described my invention,

. what I claim nd desire to secure by Letters ting, piling, heating andrerolling bars from the piles formed therefrom, thereby weld- -ing thelayers together, said rolling being done both longitudinally andtransversely of the original axis, thereby producing skelp.

strong in all directions.

3. The method of making wrought iron which consists in taking a heatedball thereof, compressing the same laterally while extending itlongitudinally, thereby forming a bloom, then reducing the cross sectionof said bloom, while extending it longitudinally, thereby forming a bar,then cutting said bar into lengths and lacing them together to form apile, then eating said pile and reducing its cross section whileextending it transversely in' a direction difierent from the firstextensions, thereb forming a wider bar, then cutting a plura 'ty of barstransversely therefrom, then placing said bars together to form a pile,then heating the pile and reducing its cross section iwhile extending itlongitudinally in a direction Similar to that of the first extensionsabove described.

4. The steps in the method of making iron tubes which consists in takingaheatcd ball or loup of wrought iron intermingled with slag and oxides,forging and compressing the same to a bloom of approximately rectangularcross section, then rolling said bloom longitudinally, thereby producinga muck bar, then cutting said muck bar into predetermined lengths andplacing said lengths together to form a pile, then heating said pile androlling it in a direction transverse to the previous direction, therebyforming a wider bar, then transversely cutting strips of predeterminedWidth therefrom, then placing said strips together to form a pile, thenheating said pile and rolling the same longitudinally to form a tubeskelp.

5. The method of forming a tube, consist-'- ing of longitudinallyrolling a wrought iron bloom, then successively cutting, piling,

heating and rerolling bars from the piles.

formed therefrom, said rolling being done both longitudinally andtransversely of the original axis, thereby producing skelp strong in alldirections, then bending said skelp with its longitudinal edgesoverlapping, then heating it to welding temperature and then weldingsaid edges together in welding rolls or otherwise to form a tube.

6. The method of forming a tube which consists intaking a heated ball orloup of wrought iron intermingled with slag and oxides, forging andcompressing the same to a bloom of approximately rectangular crosssection, then rolling said bloom longitudinally, thereby producing amuch bar, then cutting said muck bar into predetermined lengths andplacing said lengths together to form a pile, then heating said pile,and rolling it in a direction transverse to the previous direction,thereby forming a wider bar, then transversely cutting stripsofpredetermined width therefrom, then placing said strips together to forma pile, then heating said pile and rolling the same longitudinally to,form a tube skelp, then bending said skelp with'its longitudinal edgesoverlapping, then heating it to welding temperature, and then weldingsaid edges together in welding rolls or otherwise to form a tube.

In witness whereof I hereunto aflix my signature.

EDWARD KENNEY..

